OUT OF THE BOX

Dear Friends This post touches on the Christian influence in a society where there are forces that seek to silence that perspective. My wife Laurel recently heard a statement made by a leader in "The Good Club" (involving people such as Bill Gates and George Soros) who stated that in an upcoming summit meeting they would be discussing how to silence evangelical Christianity, which stands in the way of their one-world global government goals. Christians in the United States must at this time kindle the fires of personal revival and be "salt and light;" for the days are coming when we could be facing real persecution. –Billy Long CHRISTIAN INFLUENCE IN GOVERNMENT   CHURCH AND GOVERNMENT The church as an organization should not control civil government, but Christian influence, however, should pervade the government via the involvement and participation of Christians in the political process. Government always reflects the worldview of those who govern and make the law...

  LEADERS' UNHEALTHY CONTROL OF COMMUNICATION   This article is a follow-up to my post on manipulation. The issues highlighted below are principles I learned while serving “as referee” (and in some cases a participant) in a few church “fights” and were originally written with the intention of helping pastors understand some of the issues that get them into trouble. Initially I was reluctant to share these with a broader audience, but then realized that the principles are apropos to any discussion of healthy leadership. Many readers will identify with one or more of the problems discussed. For every issue there is a flip side. There is always the “other side of the coin.” This “flip side” issue is especially true for some of the areas covered in this article. For example, pastors usually teach on gossip, and they legitimately try to prevent unhealthy and destructive communication within their community of believers. But my emphasis here is the other side of the issue, whic...

  MANIPULATION Too often leaders are guilty of manipulation. Manipulation is unhealthy in any relationship and is a violation of trust. It involves the dishonest use of influence to get people to do what you want them to do and is an underhanded means of controlling people. Leaders use manipulation when they lack the ability to lead by inspiration, when they have ulterior or hidden motives, or when they are trying to get people to do what the individuals most likely would not do if they had access to all the facts. Manipulation involves giving partial truth and withholding information that would be necessary for others to make an objective decision. It means distributing information selectively, giving little twists to the facts, and sharing only that which would cause other people to respond favorably to the objectives being presented. DIPLOMACY AND TRUTH Being diplomatic can “put a sweet face” on manipulation. Diplomacy in its positive sense refers to the ability to handle affair...

  For those spiritual veterans who have been through trials, disillusionment, and disappointments, this post is written to encourage you to persevere and stand in faith trusting God’s ability to perform His will in your life as you surrender to Him in faith and obedience. This post is about as close as I come to waxing eloquent. --- Billy Long   GOD’S PURPOSE WILL PREVAIL   Facing discouragement and seeing the failures of God's people we are often tempted to lose heart and faith. We have seen what we thought were the wrong people succeeding and the wrong people failing. Like John the Baptist we have seen the glory and said, "Behold! The Lamb of God!" Then we sat in our "prison cells" and said, "Are you the one or do we look for another? Did I miss it?"   We stood on the mountain top and cried out, "This is it!" And we crawled on the valley floor crying, "Where did it go?" We said, "Lord, I'll never leave you nor forsake you...

  CREATION VS EVOLUTION “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth…” -Genesis 1:1. LOOK AT YOUR NOSE Life is infinitely too complex to have come into being randomly and by itself. There are so many interdependent systems that are necessary for the existence of life on earth; and the degree of refinement, accuracy, and perfection in the coordinated performance of all these operations necessary for life are too complex to exist apart from design. They are independent yet dependent and interdependent, and their functions must be exactly precise and with perfect timing. These dynamics testify to the existence and reality of God. I see the reality of God in many simple, subtle, and yet so obvious aspects of life that we often take for granted. For example, look at your nose. It is located in a most beneficial and practical place on your body. The nostrils point down so you don’t have to cover them to keep rain from falling into your sinuses. It is just above your mouth so t...

  WHEN GOD SENDS AN ENCOURAGING WORD. Sometime in February 2001, I stopped by an auto shop a couple miles from my home. As I walked out of the office and across the parking lot to my van I was feeling the stress of financial pressure and a little despair and distress at my perplexity concerning direction for my life. I had cried out to the Lord in prayer the night before, and Laurel and I had prayed together before I left the house that morning. As I walked across the parking lot, a black fellow in a bright red shirt who was at the other end of the building yelled to me across the parking lot, “God will make a way! No matter what the trouble, God will make a way! Just praise Him!” I did not know this man. I had never seen him before. But I received his word as from an angel of God, for he was truly sent to me by the Lord. Then, like icing on the cake, the very next week, our grandson Christian, who was not more than 3 years old at the time, just out of the blue said to Laurel, “God...

 I n our spiritual growth we need to walk in faithful obedience to the Lord in the full range of experiences, from “pit” to “peak” and everywhere in between. We grow in spirit and depth as we walk with Jesus through desert places as well as “green pastures,” and as we persevere in faith on stormy seas and in the “deep” as well as the peaceful walk by “still water,” The Psalmist speaks of remembering the Lord from the Jordon valley as well as from the heights of Hermon. He experienced the Lord’s lovingkindness in the daytime and His song in the night. Near or far, high or low, there is no extremity that can separate us from God’s love and care. “Where can I go from your Spirit? Or where can I flee from your presence? If I ascend into heaven, You are there; if I make my bed in hell, behold, you are there. If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there Your hand shall lead me and Your right hand shall take hold of me. If I say ‘Su...

  ROB'S HEALING Below is a testimony of a miraculous healing that many of my friends have heard me speak of many times over the years. What a joy it was to reconnect with Rob in 2016, about 7 years ago. What a blessing it was to know that this high school kid, now an adult, is strong in his walk with the Lord and still sharing his wonderful testimony. ---Billy Long HIGH SCHOOL KIDS EXPERIENCE JESUS In 1971 when Laurel and I were first married we were asked to speak at a youth retreat for a group of high school kids from a Baptist church in Tulsa, Oklahoma.. While I was sharing our testimony of our walk and experiences with the Lord, you could have heard a pin drop. It was as if Jesus was walking among us. His presence became more real each time I mentioned his name. A couple of the kids expressed a desire to know Him. Then a few more. Suddenly twenty of them were on their feet and praying with and for one another. The other twenty, along with the football players, remained seated...

I remember years ago working on a construction site with my uncle who is a follower of Jesus. He hurt his arm, and the first words out of his mouth were "Praise the Lord!" One of the fellow workers said, "You just hurt your arm, why are you praising the Lord?" His reply was, "I could have broken it." How often in our unpleasant situations do we fail to give thanks that the Lord did not lay on us more than we could bear? If we look closely at the storms we face, we will see the silver lining traced by the hand of God and which represents a small glimpse of the greater glory of His presence and working that are hidden in and behind the apparent darkness. The sparrows do fall, but Jesus said that not one of them is forgotten before God, and not one of them falls apart from His knowledge. Jesus is reassuring us that the Father, who loves us with a stedfast and everlasting love, is aware of where we are and what we face. Like the sparrow we may face unpleasant ...

  LD and the Religious Folk L.D. was a colorful character who ran a country store a couple miles from Longs crossroads where I grew up. I used to stop in occasionally, and sometimes visit with him and any of the local farmers who happened to be standing around the old wood heater that sat in the middle of the one-room store. He watched and listened as people from the local churches dropped in. From his position behind the counter he would hear all the latest gossip and get a good whiff of all the “dirty laundry” to which he was exposed on an almost daily basis. Consequently he did not have a favorable impression of many of the church members who passed by. When one of the local pastors tried to talk with him about his need to repent, LD quickly responded, “You surely don’t want to check behind your members too close. Cause if you do, you’re going to be disappointed.” LD knew all that was going on. He could tell you who had been “on a drunk”, who was having an affair, and how the va...

  The following paragraphs are intended to help us see that God’s hand is the undergirding “moving sidewalk” that is constantly carrying us forward in His purpose even when the enemy and circumstances try to pull us in the opposite direction. Lawless hands may “grab” us, but God’s hand rules. We must see ourselves in God’s hands rather than victims of those who mistreat us.---Billy Long IN WHOSE HANDS? “For…you have known my soul in adversities, and have not shut me up into the hand of the enemy.” Psalm 31: 7-8 Whose Prisoner? “…I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for you…” Ephesians 3: 1 “Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me His prisoner….” 2 Timothy 1: 8 The apostle Paul did not take on the role of victim nor did he rail against those who placed him in chains. Focusing upon them would have depleted his spiritual life leaving him bitter and frustrated. He counted himself a "prisoner of the Lord" not of the Romans. And his enemies, without rea...